


Dog Days

by KirkyPet



Category: The Drop (2014)
Genre: Blood, F/M, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 11:29:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14810522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KirkyPet/pseuds/KirkyPet
Summary: Winter is a distant memory. On a summer morning, Nadia and Bob take Rocco for a long walk to tire him out. It’s pretty effective for all parties. A fluffy tale of fluff.





	Dog Days

They’d probably overdid it, but it’d been a lovely morning and they didn’t get many chances to hang out these days. Between her shifts at the grocery - and she was thankful enough for them - and Bob’s inheriting the bar, she’d hardly seen him for weeks.

She saw plenty of Rocco though, kept up their arrangement despite her new job. He was their dog, after all. She could think of that now without seeing Eric bleeding out on the tile, but it had taken time. Our dog.

It still scared her to think how little that night had shaken her up, beyond the first few hours. She only wished she hadn’t seen it, the blood. It was only the blood that she wished she could unsee. The look of shock on Eric’s face was nothing. Nadia was sure he’d seen similar expressions on her own, and it hadn’t troubled him overmuch. She’d wanted it to end as much as Bob had. If she’d had the gun and the…experience… she might’ve done just that.

Nadia shook herself out of her reverie. Bob had an uncanny knack of seeing when she was thinking of that night, and it’d taken long enough to persuade him she wasn’t afraid of him. But it was alright, he wasn’t looking at her.

His arms were folded on the table, chin resting on his flannel sleeves. Eyelids heavy, he looked only moments from sleep. And, just beyond, Rocco on the floor where he’d dropped, chin on paws, too tired even to make it to his bed.

Ah, not again. That warm crushing feeling on her chest. Shit, she really wasn’t doing herself any favours. It had scared her at the beginning. She’d felt suffocated, it was too much like being trapped. She was too, but this was maybe the right kind of a trap.

She wasn’t scared of him, never had been, not really. Shocked, that was understandable surely, but not scared. She’d seen what he was capable of, but then Nadia had done some messed up shit. It didn’t matter that she’d only done it to herself. She’d been out of her mind at the time. Bob, on the other hand, was the sanest person she’d ever met.

He was properly asleep now. She’d never seen him asleep before and she’d heard somewhere that it was a good opportunity to study someone. A bit creepy maybe, but hey. A couple of worry lines between his eyebrows never quite went away, but otherwise he looked pretty content. That’s good.

The quiet sounds of man and dog were making her own eyelids droop when Rocco suddenly yipped in his sleep and woke up both himself and Bob. They both wore the same expression, mildly affronted, turning to confusion at her helpless giggles. This was too much. It’s like they were doing it on purpose.

She shook her head with an self conscious smile at the table. “You’re just too cute, is all.” Bob turned round to look at the dog, smiled at the joke, moved his lips like he was going to speak, but then blinked and looked back at her with a very slight deepening of his sleepy-pink cheeks. For all he looked embarrassed, there was definitely a wordless question there.

*

Nadia couldn’t help stopping what she was doing, now and then, to look around the bar. To spot things that’d changed, maybe to test herself, to see how she felt about the whole thing. This was the test and Bob knew it. It had been as much his wish as hers that she didn’t go there after that insane night back in February. He probably thought she’d take one look at the spot and skip town completely.

She hoped what’d happened earlier would put his mind to rest on that score. As the evening sun showed up the dust motes in the air, she polished glasses and tried not to notice how the regulars nudged each other and grinned knowingly. She knew she’d be known as ‘Bob’s girl’ by those with no memory for names. Nadia tried to keep a neutral face but couldn’t quite suppress a smile at how the day had turned out. She hadn’t set foot in the place more than three times in her life and here she was behind the bar like the fucking landlady.

That morning, Bob’s cell had rung twice, then pinged with a message from the newest bartender. She was sick and there was no one else to open up. Nadia was pleasantly flattered at his willingness to piss off his regulars, but insisted she would come with him and help out for the day. She didn’t want to rush things and didn’t trust herself if they stayed at his place. She was already sitting in his lap, after all.

Now, in the sunset light, she kinda wondered if she’d dreamed the whole thing…

“Hey Bob! BOB!! Christ, throw something at him willya? I give up…”

Nadia glanced up to see Bob looking dreamily in her direction. He started back to wakefulness as a helpful barfly lobbed a scrunched up newspaper at him. “Amstel, right, right…”

Guess not, she thought with a smile, looking up at the clock. Only four hours til closing…

**Author's Note:**

> This is the sleepy fic idea that seemed like a good idea on a 12 hour flight. Because shipping.


End file.
